(a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to soft toys, and in particular to soft toys having a generally humanoid or animal-like form, intended as playthings for children.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
One known method for making animal-like or human-like soft toys for children, which has been practised for many years, is to mould a foamed natural or synthetic rubber latex material over a relatively stiff but flexible wire frame or skeleton. The mould for the foamed latex material may take any desired form, but typically includes a torso portion, arm and leg portions and a head portion, the arm and leg portions respectively including hand and foot sections, or paw sections, as required. The completed toy is then generally soft to the touch, by virtue of the resilient characteristics of the foamed natural or synthetic rubber latex material, and yet may be deformed to take up a required attitude. The toy moreover tends to remain in such an attitude, by virtue of the wire skeleton. Soft toys manufactured by this process are usually finished by painting directly on the outer surface of the formed natural or synthetic rubber latex material and of course the toys may be dressed with clothing if required.
It is a disadvantage of the above known manufacturing method for soft toys that the production of appropriate moulds for the foamed natural or synthetic rubber latex material is a skilled, time consuming task, and is thus very expensive. If a manufacturer wishes to produce a range of animal- or human-like soft toys all generally similar but having different characteristics--for instance, soft toys of generally the same size and shape but having different facial characteristics such as the face of a human, the face of a rabbit, the face of a dog and so on--a separate mould is required for each toy in the range. Moreover, if it is desired slightly to change a design, often a completely new mould must be produced. A further disadvantage of the known method described above is that the painting on the foamed material to finish the toy has to be done by hand, and a labour-intensive process such as this is very expensive to perform in the climate of the modern toy-making industry.